KAGOSHIMA
KIRISHIMA AND EBINO-KOGEN
Where Caitlin and Naomi take a day trip outside Kagoshima City
"They hiked up from the parking lot through thickets of bamboo grass and hardwoods, where even a nonchalant deer grazed, to a lookout amid the susuki grass above a pair of gaping crater ponds." (PAGE 77)
| To the north of Kinko Bay, straddling both Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures, Kirishima National Park is a stunning highland area of volcanoes and crater lakes connected by a web of hiking trails. Legend has it that here the gods descended to earth to rule over Japan; Kirishima Shrine is revered as the site that deifies the grandson of the sun-goddess Amaterasu. The national park is pocked with craters; one of them contains the highest crater lake in Japan, which freezes for skating in winter, something Naomi ponders during her day trip with Caitlin. The peaks are reached by trails that pass through Ebino-Kogen--a grassy plateau so called because the plumes of susuki (pampas grass) resemble prawns; that follow streams and dramatic waterfalls; and that traverse rocky sulfurous terrain obviously volcanically active, such as the moonlike setting for Naomi and Caitlin's picnic. There are vast azalea fields, thickets of bamboo grass, and undisturbed oak and pine forests. The area abounds with indoor and outdoor hot-spring baths or onsen for capping a day of hiking. Resort hotels have fancy multilevel baths, such as the "jungle-bath" where Caitlin and Naomi stop. Other onsen are simpler, more remote and quiet, with wood or stone tubs set in the open air. |
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Sakurajima • Iso Gardens (Sengan'en) • Kirishima and Ebino-Kogen • Local pottery
For more photos of Kirishima, see:
http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/north_asia/kirishima.html
For additional information about the Kirishima area, see:
http://www.jnto.go.jp/regions/kyusyu/kagoshima/856.html
